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Inter Steady, Milan Fly, and Fiorentina Fizzle (Episode #48)
34 Plays6 days ago
Vos, Motts, and Logs return to unpack a wild Match Week 32, headlined by a tense 1-1 draw in the Derby della Capitale. Roma couldn’t capitalize on their chances, while Lazio showed signs of life but lacked a cutting edge. With both clubs clinging to European hopes, it was a result that leaves more questions than answers.
Milan turned heads with a dominant 4-0 win over Udinese, finally unlocking their potential in a fluid 3-4-3 that looked sharp from back to front. Meanwhile, Inter continued their steady march toward the title with a composed 3-1 win over Cagliari, while Napoli quietly took care of Empoli in a convincing 3-0 result.
Atalanta handed Bologna a rare defeat, but it was a rock fight outside of the two goals. Despite the loss, Bologna and Milan are now perfectly level on goal difference, goals scored, and goals conceded — a true tale of two cities. Elsewhere, Juve edged Lecce, Como snuck past Torino (with a very animated Cesc on the touchline), and Venezia handled business at home once again.
In Europe, Inter best Bayern in the Champions League first leg, Lazio suffered a rough showing against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League, and Fiorentina barely scraped by Celje in the Conference League. The first leg of the Coppa Italia derby ended 1-1, but Bologna look to already have a spot in the final.
The crew also previews a massive Match Week 33 slate, with top-four and relegation implications everywhere you look.
Hit play and join the conversation. And don’t forget to follow @calcioculturefc on X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube!
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Transcript
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome back to Kaltrow Culture. We're here. The whole crew's here. This is Vos. We got Logues. We got Mods. It's big week for us. We just had match day 32. Finish up today.
00:00:20
Speaker
We're going to Italy this week. We've got Champions League this week. Europa League this week. Conference League this week. Packed schedule. Tons to talk about today. Big news. We got a couple quick shouts coming back.
00:00:33
Speaker
What week, guys. What a fucking week, Paisans. Good to be here. Last episode of Coucho Culture from U.S. soil.
00:00:44
Speaker
I do not know how I'm going to do my day job for the next two and a half days. It is actually paralyzing thinking about this trip. We are extremely excited. More so to bring you guys content, for you guys to be in our shoes with us.
00:00:58
Speaker
It's going to be a trip of a lifetime. We're hitting Milan. We're hitting Parma. We're going into Torino. It's going to be electric. And I know Mott is hyped up as well.
00:01:10
Speaker
I am hyped. um'm For whatever reason, I'm nervous that Inter's going to, the semifinals of the Champions game is going to move the Copa game.
00:01:20
Speaker
Am I bugging? No, they're not going to move the Copa game. Are we sure? we because When is that? The 23rd? They're not getting They haven't set the schedule for match week 34 yet because they're waiting for the Champions League schedule. All right, got it.
00:01:34
Speaker
All right, well, hello, Paisans. I'm sorry. That was just me thinking out loud, being nervous because, you know, the Italians and their scheduling just kind of suck. um But I'm excited as well. I'm very pumped up.
00:01:46
Speaker
Yeah. you sound You sound it. You sound very excited. I'm not a very emotional guy. Unless we're talking about you, bae. Yeah, I love you, bae.
00:01:58
Speaker
We're bringing back Quick Shouts. Quick Shouts, baby, let's go. I've missed Quick Shouts. Near and dear to my heart, Quick Shouts gets me going. Can I kick it off?
00:02:09
Speaker
Can I kick off the Quick Shouts? And shall we? Back to a little drama from behind the scenes. To start off our quick shouts, we are not going anywhere. We're staying inside Italy.
00:02:21
Speaker
We do not need the PJ today. But big news, the investigation has opened back up for the gambling circuit. A lot of big names involved. One that I'm quite sad he hasn't learned his lesson, Sandro Tanali of Newcastle United. Goal scorer this past weekend. Good job, Sandro.
00:02:40
Speaker
But he's wrapped up into the circuit again. Him, McKinney. I think Beans saw his way out of this one. But ah a couple big names could be in trouble going into next season. Yeah, I think it was 13 players.
00:02:53
Speaker
What's really, really dumb about this one is they're not they weren't betting on soccer. They were just using an illegal book for whatever reason. when I'm pretty sure gambling is just fully legal everywhere in Europe.
00:03:06
Speaker
So I don't know why you would do that. as like I think that they, as players, they might just not be allowed to gamble in general, even though it might not be on football or soccer matches. But I think that they should be allowed to gamble if it's not on their direct sport, or even if it is, like if it's not in a game that they're playing or the league that they're involved in, like if they want to bet on Premier League, like why can't they do that?
00:03:30
Speaker
You brought up a really good point the other day, and you definitely said this before, and I certainly agree, and I don't think it just stands for soccer, but I think it goes for all all teams. that Everyone needs to have an internal like morality coach to tell tell players, whether it's soccer, football, ah whatever it is, basketball, don't do stupid shit.
00:03:53
Speaker
Gambling when you're not supposed to is what I would classify as stupid shit. And they need every team needs a guy to go in the locker room for the younger guys, the U25s, and just tell them that making money doesn't mean that you can just do whatever you want. Well, what I really think it should be is they need a team of like three guys that are like lawyers and are insulator from the rest of the club. And it's like, hey, guys.
00:04:15
Speaker
Just tell these guys all the dumb shit that you that you can't be doing. And then they're going to they're going help you through it. Like you can run things by these guys that you obviously should not be doing. And they're like, OK, we're going stop doing that and we're going put a plan in place.
00:04:31
Speaker
It's like going to repent at church. You got to go in this little room with the three lawyers and tell them all the bad shit you do. I don't know why you wouldn't have this department. We're going you some money. More, more players that are like being investigated or thought to be involved were, or are Di Maria, although he's posted that he hasn't and wasn't involved.
00:04:51
Speaker
And then Bella Nova as well. That one would pain me. I'd be very sad about that one. Yeah. If I get any more time off with no Sandra Tonali playing, I will be a very, very sad man.
00:05:04
Speaker
might get so though You might get some time with him in the black and white, not Newcastle black and white. No, no, no. We're not even going there. But hear me out. Maybe if he does get it pinned again, he'll be on a fire sale and he'll come back to Milan on a discount well with his new fiance and they'll just trot around Milan for a year while he's waiting for a suspension be over.
00:05:25
Speaker
you see He went to his agent and said, like, hey, let's go go see ah what's available for me going back to Italy. And so his agent's been talking to Milan, talking to Inter, talking to Juve. And Juve are heavily linked with him. Every time i open my Twitter, all I see is his face.
00:05:45
Speaker
um But his price tag right now is 70, 80 mil. I don't know if anyone in the Serie A can afford that. What I will say is that of all the teams you just mentioned, Milan makes a ton of fucking sense.
00:05:58
Speaker
That is actually like the third midfielder that they're missing. They can't get it done. But let's keep it rolling. We don't need to spend all day talking about this. I'll talk about Tenali for as long as we want. But any case, last quick shout. We're only going to get a big, big episode here.
00:06:14
Speaker
But Siri B is in the news because one of the stout Serie A contenders for such a long time is coming back. Sassuolo has locked in promotion to Serie A next season.
00:06:26
Speaker
Great to have them back. It felt weird not having Sassuolo on the schedule this year. Happy to have them back. I think I talked about them before, but Varari, Lorient, great players.
00:06:38
Speaker
Serie A, quality players coming back. Happy to have them. And that while we're on the topic, the other two teams that are looking at promotion, Pisa, that'd be sweet, having games in Pisa, Leaning Tower, Pisa in the background.
00:06:52
Speaker
And Spezia is slated to come back. We'll see, though, Criminese and Juve Stavia are lurk being lurking in the distance. So we'll see who actually wins promotion as we come to a close this season in Serie B. I like Spezia. They always got nice kids. And Sass deserves to be their Serie A club.
00:07:12
Speaker
Sass is better than Monza right now. Today. sot I'm just glad Juventus didn't buy Berardi. That would have pissed me off. Well, it's the Koulibaly effect.
00:07:24
Speaker
Have we ever talked about the Koulibaly effect? Yes, and it's not what we've talked about it at length, and it's not the Koulibaly effect. It is just the fact that the owner, is his name is De Laurentiis, and he is the person who sets the prices and and says yes or no to the sales.
00:07:41
Speaker
And it is a Gullivale conundrum. I do apologize. But with that being said, Quick Shouts is over. It was great to have it back. Our juiced up. Let's jump in into match day 32. Starting at the Stadio Olimpico.
00:07:55
Speaker
Roma technically at Lazio. And a we come to a 1-1 draw. Mats, you made a strange comment that one of these sides got played off the park.
00:08:07
Speaker
I didn't know. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, but that was about the Europa League. Yeah, the Europa League. Vos said that, though. Well, in any case, you did make another comment that one of the goals in this game was absolutely firm.
00:08:18
Speaker
Yeah, straight banger by Mateus Soule. Bardownski. Oh, Bardownski. Bardownski. yeah listen, I mean, other than that one moment for Roma, not too much and to be happy or positive about ah because they kind of didn't create that many chances.
00:08:40
Speaker
ah Lazio played a much better game. And besides Sule, I think the one other player that saved Roma was obviously their goalie.
00:08:52
Speaker
He was making save after save, and he did that. I don't want to say he saved him in the Juventus game, but he played very well in the Juventus game as well. He's been standing on his head lately for Roma, keeping them in games and winning them points.
00:09:05
Speaker
So good there, but not much else to take away that were positives from Roma perspective on this game. But I will say, it i think it's I think it's a big point, though, Svilar, just to close that one out, was certainly a question mark coming into this season, given that Ru Patricio had had the spot for quite some time.
00:09:26
Speaker
But he's certainly showed up. you He was there for a couple of seasons. Yeah, but Svilar, this was Svilar's spot starting last year. Svilar came on hard last year when DeRossi got ah got the the manager spot, and that was one switch DeRossi made immediately, and he immediately took the spot from really Well, then in that case, in pure Shaq-esque way, Svilar, I apologize. I was not familiar with your game.
00:09:50
Speaker
Well, I mean, here's the thing with Svilar. He's done enough for them to not question goalkeeping. But I likened him to Donnarumma earlier today because he'll have games like this and then he'll have games where he just does really dumb shit out of nowhere, which I don't love. I think he's he is definitely more consistent.
00:10:10
Speaker
Then um a lot of goals in league and I don't think it's a question mark. and Of course, these last few games were stellar performances. I mean, Roma had no business getting any points out of this game.
00:10:21
Speaker
And Spilar basically just dragged them across the line. um A couple other things that i thought were interesting from this game. This was probably the worst Roma performance that I can remember under Ranieri. And interesting enough, Pellegrini did start this game. I didn't think he played particularly well.
00:10:37
Speaker
I also thought that Perretas was a little bit off the pace. So those are two guys that are kind of on the outs already. um So just an interesting one there. And then I thought Alexis Salomachers brought a lot of energy, although he' ah he was a pain in the ass the entire game.
00:10:50
Speaker
So that one was good to see and always was like it. The last one on the player of perspective, I am probably in the minority on this, but I'm still not sold on Dove. I think that you guys are hotter than on him than I am.
00:11:04
Speaker
I haven't really seen him. i don't I don't know what he does well yet is kind of my issue. He's very good back to goal. I get that. I get that, but like... There is a lot of players that are good at holdup play, but to really be effective at that, you also have to have decent passing range.
00:11:23
Speaker
And we're going to kind of segue into, which is going to be an important piece of talk about in a second. But I think of like somebody who was really good back to basket, Olivier Isharu. And he he did the back to basket thing really well, but he was also so comfortable making those passes off of it and getting the ball to runners off of him.
00:11:41
Speaker
And I just think with Dobrik, his IQ isn't really there yet. where I feel like he makes runs out into areas where he's not an outlet anymore because he's not really comfortable in wide areas and he he just finds himself out there all the time.
00:11:56
Speaker
So it's still a question mark for Ray. Here's my thing with Dobrik. it's It's not something you want to hear when you're talking about your 27-year-old striker that you just bought, but he's still incredibly raw, right?
00:12:08
Speaker
That's true. He certainly had one very good season in La Liga last year for Jorona, but when you look at the other talents that have come through La Liga at the 9 spot, aside from Isik, there are a bunch of guys. um who's Who's the one that went to Atletico?
00:12:27
Speaker
Also, like, Norwegian... Sorloth? Sorloth. Sorloth and Dobik, I would put on the same, i would say, talent level. And Sorloth, I think if you put him in a different league other than La Liga, he's going to do the same thing that Dobik's doing right now.
00:12:41
Speaker
Again, still incredibly raw. I think that the framework for Dobik is there, but being 27 kind of takes that runway away from him. So ceiling definitely capped, but certainly still raw, and I think he has a little bit more room for improvement.
00:12:54
Speaker
But little tweaks here and there, I think he could be very good. Not great, but very good. like Yeah, his trip his like physical traits are what is keeping alive for me.
00:13:05
Speaker
Kind of like Doosan, like Doosan has had more of a leash than lot of people because of how he's built and how athletic he is. And he's also younger, though.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah, but it's kind of like the same thing. Like you see everything he can be in kind of an interesting thing going into the summer now is going to be. Are they going to bring back Tammy to push him?
00:13:27
Speaker
Because Tammy has had a pretty good season from coming off the bench, not really playing a presumably bad team, I would say, for a lot of the season. And they've kind of only had Shmordov as the guy pushing him. So it would be an interesting one because I think Jobbik hasn't proved enough that he's going to be starting 38 games next season by any means, nor like should he deserve that yet.
00:13:45
Speaker
So it maybe it will help him to bring in somebody that's maybe a... like in between that level of because short offers a significant drop off. which We kind of know what the scaling is. So I think that's just an interesting one. Not to say that they need to directly replace him by any means.
00:14:00
Speaker
I'm just not sold yet. I think inner competition is always good. So would it maybe make sense to bring a player of Tammy's caliber, maybe not specifically Tammy, to the squad?
00:14:12
Speaker
Sure. But I definitely think Dolby can, has, and will start 40-plus, 35-plus games next season. Obviously, he hasn't had maybe the the season of a Moise Keane or a Rategi.
00:14:29
Speaker
But 41 games played in all competitions, 16 goals, three assists. So are those stellar numbers? No, it's his first year in the team, first year in the league.
00:14:42
Speaker
We know the issues that all Roma players players were having earlier on in the season. So that's not really on him, I'd say.
00:14:53
Speaker
Since Roma has kind of, and Ranieri have figured this thing out, I think Dovbeck's been a, a key factor in that as he scores goals to get them points and win them games. So listen, kit could he have had a better season? Obviously.
00:15:10
Speaker
Has he done decently? I think so. And I think he's definitely earned his spot for next year to be their out and out starter. But I think that a healthy competition would be good and bringing somebody in would make sense.
00:15:23
Speaker
Yeah, but in to Mats' point, first season here and also three managers this season. So very little continuity, but on the topic of managers, we do have some news of one of our one of our favorites, one of my favorites. The rumor is, not 100% officially confirmed, but lot of headlines out there that Roma has decided that their next manager is going to be none other than Stefano Pioli. He's making his return to Serie A.
00:15:50
Speaker
And he's making his return to a project that I think fits them rather well. Now, my whole take on this originally was that I thought that Roma had a squad here that they could bring in a manager that could ride ride with them for the next five to 10 years, kind of like a Klopp situation at Liverpool.
00:16:08
Speaker
So when I was thinking about this, I thought that Pioli doesn't really have that longevity to stay with this team for that long. And I do think that when he was at Milan, he kind of capped out his potential with the players that he had. Leao hit his ceiling with Pioli.
00:16:22
Speaker
Teo hit his ceiling with Pioli. They've obviously regressed, so that could have gone out the window. But when you think about when Pioli came in to Milan all those seasons ago, this Roma team seems to be in that same stage.
00:16:36
Speaker
And so I do think that this appointment, if it does go through, could have a very, very similar resemblance to the likings of a Milan at that time. And you could see Roma certainly in the Scudetto race, maybe not next year, but certainly in the years to come if Pioli does step in here.
00:16:53
Speaker
I probably, not that I don't like it because I think Piole did a great job. i said that he was underappreciative underappreciated at Milan. He obviously is loved by all the players or was loved by all the players at Milan. He knows how to man-manage.
00:17:08
Speaker
Maybe his tactics aren't amazing, as Logan has said before. um But we're where I kind of... hesitate to like this is it's very similar to me to what they did last year with Rossi even though purely hasn't come in and had success but they they picked it so early and that kind of is what you said last year both it was like why not just wait to the summer see who's available purely isn't gonna get a job until the summer no one's gonna go scoop him up not At least i don't think that was going to happen until all this, the the season is officially over and managers are sacked and other players, people start going after him.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yes, maybe it might have been a little bit harder to secure Pioli then because he might have been more high demand. But the the hasty and the rushing to decisions for Roma, I think they should have learned from last year.
00:18:00
Speaker
And because we saw how well DeRossi did at the end of the season, but then it quickly, for a bunch of different reasons, they hit the panic button, let him go. And they could be making the same mistake that they did last year with this hire and, and like deciding so early on that, hey, the Pioli is the guy. However, anything is possible in football. So he,
00:18:23
Speaker
It might just be a rumor right now. And then tomorrow we could get a breaking news where he's not interested and they're going to go in a different direction. But I do think that it's just really, really early to announce this and make the decision like, hey, this is our guy. Yeah.
00:18:37
Speaker
It is early. What what with and all the names that we have thrown out over the last couple months. And the more that I don't say Terzic again. No, no, I'm not. I'm actually, I'm not arguing against myself here.
00:18:48
Speaker
And the more that I've thought about this Pele appointment, the more well thought out, I think it actually is from the management team, because I would say Pele is extremely similar to Ron Yerry.
00:19:01
Speaker
Probably going to be playing a 4-2-3-1, very much a man manager, ton of experience in the league with AC Milan, with a team that we all would probably agree shouldn't have won a Scudetto, shouldn't have gone as far as it did in the Champions League, shouldn't have gone as far as it did in the Europa League, shouldn't have finished in a Champions League spot some of the years that they did win.
00:19:21
Speaker
Why wouldn't you do this? This is probably the best option out there when you look at it in that framework. And Ranieri has clearly been the most successful or his his management style has clearly been the best for these players.
00:19:34
Speaker
So why wouldn't you continue to steer in the direction that's working? And I think it's it's not a it's just not overthinking it. It honestly is is kind of what I'm seeing out of this.
00:19:46
Speaker
And everybody knows Pioli isn't like a crazy tactician. It might be the worst football ever on some days. But then on other days, you're going to be seeing a Scudetto winning team.
00:19:57
Speaker
And I think Logan's point about where the state of the squad is versus the state of the AC Milan squad when he took over. I would say this Rome team's maybe better even. i mean, what did he really have to work with there? Leal wasn't really Leal yet.
00:20:11
Speaker
Teo definitely wasn't Teo yet. They didn't really have anyone that's that guy. I would say Manu Kone is already better than every player that was on that Milan team. Sule is right up there. I mean, Sule is very similar stage to where Leao was when Pioli took over. I would say Sule is probably further ahead even.
00:20:32
Speaker
so it's going to be interesting. And they do have the men to play the way he wants to play. And I love the Salamachers reunion with Pioli because they both love each other too. So Amacher is probably coming back to AC, really high price type. But yeah, I mean, Sule is still raw. Let's not forget. So, and Vleao was incredibly raw back then as well.
00:20:51
Speaker
And you look at Pizzilli and you look at Baldanzi. I mean, Pioli loves his Italian talents and Tonali is one that I'll point to again. But I think that this squad is certainly something that he can work with and and bring at least to the next stage and let someone else take over if need be.
00:21:08
Speaker
And at the very least, what I'll add and and say some positive things about Pioli is that he was able to get the most out of two players that a lot of managers that have now been at Milan since he was left cannot do in terms of Liao and Tio.
00:21:24
Speaker
And so he has that capability. He understands how to motivate players, and that will be good for... him leading Roma in their kind of young squad. Like maybe he gets the most out of a dove pick.
00:21:37
Speaker
He has Sule reach his full potential and so on and so forth. So he's definitely a good motivator and a great man manager. And I definitely agree with you Vos. Like Roma haven't necessarily needed the most insane tactics. And that's exactly what Pioli does. He just man manages and just kind of plays his four, two, three, one and goes out there and gets results.
00:22:00
Speaker
So with that with that being said, though, Vos, I want to toss it to you for the other side of the Capitale here. You've been a huge Lazio guy this entire season, and they've certainly lost a lot of their luster in the last couple of weeks.
00:22:16
Speaker
what do you How do you see the end of the season unfolding for Lazio and specifically where you see them finishing with Roma right behind them? At this point, I still think Lazio are better than Roma. I think Lazio are better than Juventus as well. I'm not going to go as far as say they're better than Bologna.
00:22:33
Speaker
I think Bologna is the best team all those teams right now. what we're what mos The face that Mats is making is recency bias. They have an attack to Castellanos, and it's been more of a loss than I think I had anticipated. I'm assuming you guys had anticipated as well.
00:22:48
Speaker
They basically forgot how to win games without him. Better score goals. Yeah, and now he's but and they but realistically, they've been using players at the forward position that they're not really comfortable playing there. They're more kind of play as a second striker kind of guys. gus her idea was kind of Even Dia, they didn't even want to really force up there, even though that was probably the most logical solution.
00:23:09
Speaker
And then we get him back, first game against Roma, like we've been saying, one of the hottest teams in the league, hottest teams in Europe, really, and played them off the park. One-to-one is... it I don't know Lazio didn't win this game.
00:23:23
Speaker
They beat the hell out of Roma. They were not in the game whatsoever in my mind, apart from the Sule amazing goal. um And I thought for me, this was Lazio's back. And I think they're going to move on from this.
00:23:37
Speaker
and kind of finishes the season out with a flurry. They don't have the hardest schedule in the world. Excuse me, in the world. They do have a huge Europa League tie midweek, so we're going to come back to that in a second here.
00:23:47
Speaker
But in the league, they have Genoa, they have Parma, they have Empoli, and then to finish it out, Juve, which is a tough one, Inter, which is a tough one, and then Lecce. And at this point in time, I'm not going into the Juve game saying that Juve...
00:24:00
Speaker
should get three points out of that game. I think that would be a crazy thing to say. What I will say is that I'm very confident that they're going to beat Genoa, they're going to beat Parma, and they're going to beat Empoli. And I think they're going to be a really tough team for Inter to play against with what we've seen from Inter this season. Because Lazio have been a very difficult team to break down when they sit deep.
00:24:21
Speaker
And they just haven't done that all that much. They only do that in like the really big games. In this one, they brought it to Roma. And i I just still feel really good about this team. My opinion has not changed. Without Castellanos, they were not very good.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yes. And that is something Letito is going to have to solve in summer. I'm not sure he's going to, but it's really shown they need an actual number nine in reserves to play there.
00:24:45
Speaker
But you go through their big players, and they've been big players all i season. Zakami has just gotten better, better all season. Ravella is having his best season ever. Isiksen is way better than I thought he was. I was kind of saying he's a mid-table Serie A guy at the beginning of the season, and he's probably one of the best wingers in the league at this point. I think you're struggling to put five guys ahead of him, really.
00:25:07
Speaker
And then you even go to the back line, which is arguably the the point at the beginning of the season. The team isn't good enough. The the date the defense isn't good enough. In this one, Marusic and Pellegrini both had great games. and werere sick Marusic frustrated Salamachas the entire game.
00:25:21
Speaker
And then Pellegrini had the assist on the Romagnoli goal. Romagnoli scored another goal. He's had a couple this year. And I just think across the team, everything is continuing to come together. And I i just i think Peroni's a good coach. i think he's gonna be there for a long time. And i if they keep all these players, I continue to see them being on pace with everybody else to finish top four every year.
00:25:43
Speaker
My thing with Lazio, and i I said this was coming, I thought that they were outperforming what they really truly were as a team. And I certainly thought that a lot of their goal scorers were outperforming what they were.
00:25:56
Speaker
Based on their potential. Zikani has scored one goal since the middle of February, which he was an absolute goal machine for the first half of the season. I think that Wendouzi is a fraud, and that's showing as well.
00:26:10
Speaker
Ravella, I will never take anything away from Ravella. I think he's having an incredible season, a a team of the season type season. So i don't I'm not going to take anything away from there. Tati is a huge loss, which I think is why this the lackluster performances as of late.
00:26:25
Speaker
But again, they were relying on Pedro to get them goals. Pedro is a dinosaur. Pedro is not supposed to be scoring 10 plus goals for you. And certainly you shouldn't be shouldn't be leaning on that as your source of of wins.
00:26:38
Speaker
And so i I think this reversion to the mean was coming. And I don't think that Mazz's shout of Roma finishing ahead of Lazio all that time ago was I thought it was crazy then. It's certainly not crazy now.
00:26:49
Speaker
um And i don't I don't think that this Lazio team finishes out stronger. I think that they've their best performances are certainly behind them. I mean, I just don't know how you can say that after this game. I mean, they outplayed Raw. Okay, but that's so that's one game and their last I know, but they're missing their best player by, and not their best player, but their real, they need him. The way they play. Their goal scorer. Need Castellanos, even beyond the goals that he gives.
00:27:16
Speaker
Because the guy that plays under him, whether it's Dia, whether it's Noslen, whether, in this game was, whatever this guy's name is, Dele Bashiru. He was playing as the nine while Castellanos was out. Those guys cannot do their job without Castellanos in the team.
00:27:32
Speaker
Period. And you cannot compare Lazio with and without Castellanos. They are completely different teams. They are not nearly as good. And going into the end of the season, they have them. And it's different.
00:27:44
Speaker
It is. They don't have the... Even when I see it, when he starts scoring when he start scoring again. They don't have... And they don't have the the toughest schedule. I agree. Roma's got a tougher one. But I still... I don't... Roma, even though they got played off the park to to what you say...
00:28:02
Speaker
They still got a point, Roma. Roma still haven't lost in the Serie A since December 15th. I don't think you can give one head-to-head game. Now the the edge for Lazio to go finish above Roma when Roma's two points behind them and they've been...
00:28:17
Speaker
They've been not losing a game all season long. they have Roma have Verona next. Then they got Inter, Fiorentina. All right, so Roma obviously has a much tougher schedule than Lazio.
00:28:28
Speaker
But they've also shown it doesn't matter who they play, they're going to get results. That's true. I agree with that. I also just think that derbies are tough to take too much away from because teams play so, so different in derbies and point in case is, case in point is Milan.
00:28:44
Speaker
So just from a first person point of view, i don't want to take too much away from a performance. Yeah. I'd also say like, I'm sure not that I don't think Ranieri did a good job or Roma's players were not prepared or amped up or ready for the game, but Lazio have literally won one game in their last six or five Serie games.
00:29:03
Speaker
So they knew going into this, like, we need to get at we need to get a result from this. Like, we cannot allow this these bad results to keep piling up, piling up, piling up. And even though a draw is still not great for them because of how poor they've been in their last four or five games in the league.
00:29:23
Speaker
So I think they were just like this essentially a little bit of the hungry dog runs faster because of that. But obviously Roma wanted this for because it it would have meant they leapfrogged Lazio. But I still don't.
00:29:37
Speaker
I've said it, like Logan said, 10 weeks ago, 12 weeks ago when Roma were in 11th place and Lazio were in third. And I think Roma finishes above Lazio. And I stick into my guns.
00:29:50
Speaker
It'll be interesting. It'll be interesting. But what's more interesting is the results out of the top of the table this weekend. All top four teams coming away with three points and more specifically, both Inter and Napoli after today walking away with three points. Let's start with Inter Cagliari. 3-1 result for Inter.
00:30:06
Speaker
Jan Bissic, Lutaro on the score sheet, Arnadovic early on 13th minute, and Picole continuing with his scoring spree. Vos, what do you think about Inter after this weekend? Well, first we're going to about Piccoli because that's my fucking boy.
00:30:19
Speaker
He should definitely be on the Italy roster. I don't know if he isn't yet. This is a guy that I'm going to be talking about a lot this summer. I think a lot of teams can use him. But anyway, I'll start a thing. um This is probably one of the better intro performances of the year.
00:30:30
Speaker
I would say they did all the things that they want to do really well. I thought Akon had one of his better performances was really pulling the strings from that that deep number six spot. Barella and Fritjesi playing together. Interesting. Barella pushed out of position on the left.
00:30:45
Speaker
Doesn't usually play there. But he was exceptional again. The other interesting piece of this that has it has been happening more more over the last couple of probably a month or so.
00:30:56
Speaker
Carlos Augusto and Federico DeMarco playing. Carlos Augusto playing as the left center back. Just creates that really weird look that we saw DeMarco break onto the scene with this team. And it's very difficult to handle Barella.
00:31:08
Speaker
that kind of overlap and what they can do there on the left side with two guys that are actually kind of wingers really and now they want to play And they countered well. They held the ball well, which we didn't, which has been bad this year, i would say, for the most part. When they're heavily in possession, they kind of don't play great.
00:31:24
Speaker
They really, everyone rely on that counterattack. ah But this was just a masterclass. They had a couple of scary moments. The Piccoli goal, obviously, was some really bad defending on her on a set piece. And then Jan Sommer did have a really big save on Piccoli, again, earlier in the game.
00:31:40
Speaker
but No matter what, they did enough to win this game and basically just got it done. The Inter, what we've seen, Inter and the Champions League, very different from Inter in the league. Inter and the Champions League are not going to concede as many chances as they're willing to concede in these games.
00:31:53
Speaker
So is Inter as good as they were last year? Definitely not. But they're good enough to get results like this. The other big thing, Marco Arnautovic has come up with massive, massive goals this season.
00:32:07
Speaker
And on top of that, his assist to Latoro was absolutely ridiculous. And it's guys like that that can go and win you the league. Like you can rotate out some of your marks from not starting this game.
00:32:20
Speaker
You can rotate out and you, your next line is not necessarily as good, but there there's guys like Arnautovic who have been in this league, have, been prolific goal scorers in this league, have been prolific goal scorers in Europe.
00:32:33
Speaker
And that, when you can get that kind of goal, Arnautovic just had massive goals in the second half of the season, and that's all they needed from him to to maybe push and win the Scudetta. mean, that's exactly what we said about when they brought Tremien. You just need a guy that comes off the bench that can add that value without, you know, in games like this, when you're playing a bottom of the half, bottom of the table team, you need guys that can come in and make a difference and still hold the line while you probably rest up some guys when you have a big Champions League tilt midweek.
00:33:02
Speaker
I do want to point out, Vos, you mentioned Piccoli in the summer. Certainly will be a big name, but people do forget or do not know. Ficoli is owned by Atalanta. That'd be interesting. i don't think of vote I don't think it makes sense for him to keep him with the guys that have.
00:33:17
Speaker
Well, the other thing is that Ritegi is still linked away. A lot of Prem teams have come out and said that he's the number one target. Teams like Arsenal, although they are linked to Cesco as well, but there are a lot of suitors for Ritegi. So Atalanta may just go back to the Atalanta of old and be a selling club and and take take the profits for Ritegi and pull in Ficoli. That could be a move.
00:33:40
Speaker
Yeah, it could be. The other guy they have. We'll come back to it. But in any case, but my take on Inter here is that they're showing up when they're supposed to.
00:33:52
Speaker
you know this is you know we we've We've been in and out on Inter the whole season, but nonetheless, they've been top of the table. They have been nothing less than then top three aside from a slow start. But the season doesn't start until 10 games out, and they were top of the table then.
00:34:07
Speaker
From my point of view, if Inter can hold this line without getting too distracted from the Copa competition in two weeks, from UCL midweek, they shouldn't have too much of an issue coming down the stretch.
00:34:19
Speaker
ah They do have a couple of tough games, and every time Inter goes into a game, the other team is it's way more motivated to beat Inter than they are other teams. So they just need to keep the focus, which is something they've struggled with this entire season, with as we know.
00:34:32
Speaker
um They do have a little bit of injury woes here. Dumfries has been out for a couple of games now. Bastoni has been in and out of the lineup, playing at very low minutes. So seeing Carlos Augusto show up is great. DeMarco really needs to stay healthy. He's been on and off.
00:34:46
Speaker
Zalewski started this game, also got her taken off. rash so so let go we Crash. will crash in this game. He wasn't good this game. He was playing on the wrong side. and But this the added depth that they added to him was such a good move. I think this was, listen, obviously into were the favorites. They just took care of business.
00:35:06
Speaker
I really, really think this was a very masterclass, just managed game by Nzaghi. It was, we're going to rest Bastoni, but we're not going we're going to,
00:35:16
Speaker
keep him somewhat fresh right we give him 15 20 minutes letaro he's been in goal scoring form we're gonna play him hopefully he gets his goal keeps his confidence up we'll take him out to ram he's been kind of trying to find his form let's give him some time and zagi fantastic job of playing his players that needed to play to get the win but not overdoing it in in running them into the ground knowing they have Bayern next week but playing them just enough to keep the level of form keep the confidence keep the ball rolling I really think it was a great great managed game by Gonzagi and I'm going to take it one step further obviously we don't talk too too much about the Champions League games on this because it's a serial podcast but
00:36:01
Speaker
Interplayed Byron extremely well. They were defensive, they counter attacked, but what really stuck out to me was. Inter let a goal up and then immediately scored like like two minutes later. And that just, once again, to me, shows Inzaghi's motivation and how he has his players locked in.
00:36:23
Speaker
They were seeing the game off. They were they were doing their job, getting the 1-0 win at Bayern, which I'm sure Inzaghi was trying to get. They were in their low block. Bayern had a lot of chances. Yes, Harry Kane probably should have scored what much earlier in the game.
00:36:37
Speaker
But the second... The ball went, they let up a goal. it was, we got to go get another goal right now. And they did it immediately. And I think that is also Nzaghi doing a great job relaying the message to his team, everyone understanding, everyone locked in.
00:36:53
Speaker
And I think that he wasn't doing this at all at the beginning of the year. He was just rolling out his his straight 11. And he's i think he's seen that maybe... It was in his, this all in his master plan. I don't know how it took this long.
00:37:06
Speaker
He finally figured it out and it's working. And I think this was a great managed game by Nzaghi. Well, listen, it was ah it was a great rebound from Inzaghi, which you don't typically say about a manager coming off the back of a wolf a woeful performance against Parma the week before.
00:37:21
Speaker
um Certainly, think I think they were looking ahead to that Bayern matchup, but they learned their lesson very quickly, quick rebound into this week, and so it was a good win to go up 3-1 and get the three points, which was really important off the back of...
00:37:34
Speaker
Yeah, last just last thing on Inter, I think it's really important, kind of what Mons was saying. Yes, they have Bayern midweek now. So it's Bayern midweek, then it's Bologna, then it's the Copa Italia semifinal, it's one-to-one.
00:37:47
Speaker
And then Roma. And then Roma. Like, that is brutal on your players physically and mentally. And we kind of saw that with the Parma stumble. I think it was a little bit of that. Because they they won the Bayern game.
00:37:59
Speaker
Then they went straight into... earth No, actually, was it the reverse? that I'm thinking about this. It was Parma, then Bayern. Yeah, but regardless, it's just the mental toll that's going to be taking on your players is a lot. And that's a lot of games in a short window of time where you have there are you can't make mistakes in any of those games. So you're going to be punished.
00:38:16
Speaker
And that's kind of why I'm leaning towards Napoli winning the league now. and just I think that the one game week is going to make a difference going into the end of the season here. i butt ah Here's one thing that I think you can't underestimate.
00:38:30
Speaker
If they go and beat Bayern, who's in their side of the Champions League? Who would they play? thought it was Barcelona, but it could be wrong. It might be Barcelona. Phil makes them four.
00:38:42
Speaker
well so you i think it is Barcelona because PSG would play Real if Real would make it through. Real, well lost it's Arsenal. like They're going to make that game. I mean, they won they lost You can never count Real out. i'd i I don't think so. Real is not the team that they were last year or two years ago.
00:38:57
Speaker
But what what I'm trying to say about Inter is I don't think you can underestimate how close they would be if they beat Bayern to the treble.
00:39:09
Speaker
Like that is going, you have to be so locked in. I would fucking kill myself if that happens. But if you beat Bayern, then you have the Copa semifinal in a week.
00:39:22
Speaker
And obviously it's much easier said than done. But if you go beat Milan in your advance, you're now in the semifinals, the finals in in first place. of the of the league and so and you got nine games left to go win the trail something that hasn't been done by a syria ah team since 2010 inter marino's inter so that is something to keep in mind if they can be buying i know those are two big ifs obviously But that can be just, and obviously their games are more, it'll be lot of mental fatigue, what much much more exhaustion, but that in and of itself can have the players just totally locked in for the rest of the season to to win the league and win possibly the treble.
00:40:05
Speaker
Where I think that it might hurt them is that they've already done the league a couple of times. And they're going to be so locked into winning that Champions League, I think. And you kind of that's true ah you kind but see it in in the the way they played the league this year.
00:40:20
Speaker
They've been not very good against the best teams in the league. They have dropped a ton of points against the top teams. And then you go to the Champions League and they probably have been the best team of the Champions League all season. but I think that that's because Inter, we've we've said this, like, obviously they play such great soccer. They're very good in possession.
00:40:37
Speaker
They have taken a little bit step back in there input when they're in possessions from last year. But where they haven't taken a step back is their counterattack. That's where Nzaghi and Inter are their best.
00:40:50
Speaker
And when you play in the Champions League and you play Bayerns and Madrids and Manchester Citys, you You can sit in your low block that you are very or your mid to low block and then hit on the counter, which is what Nzaghi wants to do.
00:41:04
Speaker
And against a team, lower level teams like Parma and the Serie A, you can't do that. you have to go You have to go break down a low block, which is hard to do. Obviously, we've we've heard a bunch of coaches say that this year.
00:41:17
Speaker
But so there's a part of it that to me, the Champions League just is better for them to excel in what they want to do. But yeah, I agree. Last year, like last year, wouldn't matter if you were in a low block. If you want a possession against Inter, they were going to beat you no matter what you did.
00:41:32
Speaker
Yeah, um I mean, last one on this is i think they're the best team left in the Champions League, and they're easily the worst team to match up with for for anybody. I think PSG is the only other team that... Barcelona's hot too. la mean I know, but For whatever reason, I'm not sold. They play a really high line. I'm not sold.
00:41:50
Speaker
I mean, Benfica put a four on them. Inter with two strikers, that's a terrible matchup for Barcelona. Like you have Taram and Latar up there running at that back line.
00:42:01
Speaker
And then even PSG, I think is the the scariest looking team. But again, Inter are going to let them have the ball. It'd be so happy to let them sort let them have it and hit them. So... but This is my year for me.
00:42:14
Speaker
PSG is my take. Well, I'll explain that at a later date. But Vos, you made an interesting comment and you made a statement here on a one game a week team in Napoli to win the Scudetto.
00:42:26
Speaker
They got three points today. They went they took it to Empoli. They won 3-0. Man United fans are crumbling right now seeing McTominay with a brace and Lukaku with a goal and the other two assists for that matter.
00:42:39
Speaker
This Napoli team looks a little scary. they're They're getting hot at the right time. One game a week, nothing will nothing to get distracted by. This could be their year again. Yeah, I mean, this could definitely be the year.
00:42:50
Speaker
I mean, and they're big players stepping up a big time. Scott McTominay was always going to come in and need to be that guy, and he's shown he has that. I think he has seven goals on this year. I'm looking at my stats sheet here. I think not updated yet.
00:43:03
Speaker
Yeah, so that's seven goals. Lukaku, 12 goals, eight assists. That might be nine assists if they counted one today. That is an absolute haul from him. And the other thing is Napoli have a much, much easier schedule than Inter going into the end of the season.
00:43:18
Speaker
They've got Monza, Torino, Lecce, Genoa, Parma, Cagliari to end this out. that he does he hey Those are are three points. and eight You should go into every one of those games confident you're going to get three points apart from maybe Torino.
00:43:33
Speaker
Yeah, they for sure. And Conte's now motivated. The only thing is they have everybody. I think the only person that's But that's what I was going to say. Like, Bongiorno's been in and out of the lineup all season long. And we talked about how good he is and how big of a factor he's going to play.
00:43:47
Speaker
He's missed way more time than I would have thought he was going to miss. And they have not really missed a beat without him, which I think is crazy and shows Conte just getting the most out of his guys, which he always does.
00:44:01
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, two and out two other names that were notably not playing this game, Gio DiLorenzo and Spinatola both got rested, and it it did not make a difference. Mantoki has been really in and out of the team a lot of the season.
00:44:12
Speaker
He played great, and then Mateus Oliveira has kind of taken over that left-back spot kind of 100% the time now. I mean, he's been great. And then the other thing is, it's that lineup without Zombo, and they've kind of rested Zombo enough now where you think he's probably going to be more available coming into the last part of the season, so you always have him as an option.
00:44:31
Speaker
Yeah, my my main takeaway from this Napoli game today, and it's fully discounted because Empoli is now in 19th and I think that they're terrible, but it's amazing what Conte has done with this team, especially after what we thought was a horrendous window and in the January window.
00:44:48
Speaker
They have really shown through. They're getting hot at the right time. They play great soccer together. And i don't I don't see any roadblocks them. You just named that schedule. That is, I mean, if if you could plan your schedule perfectly, they've done it.
00:45:03
Speaker
They do not have Champions League. They do not have Copa. These guys are going to be well-rested, well-focused, and if they do drop points, but it's almost i know that they're three behind Inter now, and three points in this point of the season can be a pretty big pretty big difference.
00:45:23
Speaker
But to me, they hold their own destiny in their own hands, which is which is weird to say in in a second-place team. They just need to show up game in, game out and do as exactly as they've been doing and just play the soccer and the football that they know how to play.
00:45:37
Speaker
Conte's done a phenomenal job here. They just need to stay focused. I mean, all they need is enter a stumble one time. And that is not a big ask with their schedule. And the other thing with with, I think with some other coaches, it would make less of a difference.
00:45:51
Speaker
But Conte having a week to prepare for a single game and a single team, being able to game plan for that single game. He's one of those kind of old school managers that's capable of doing that rather than We're 100% focused on how we're playing and that's it. think we see that with Nzaki a lot.
00:46:07
Speaker
Nzaki doesn't really game plan a lot of the time, other than maybe Atalanta. Conte does something a little bit different every game. Little tiny things. they They attack in slightly different ways.
00:46:19
Speaker
And if you give him a week to perfect that every time, that's and we're seeing that this season, and it makes a very big difference. And he has everybody so motivated. So motivated. they arere going I don't see a way they don't get three points out of every one of these games. They are so fired up.
00:46:37
Speaker
Just to piggyback off that, Vos, where I'm so impressed on is it's it's pretty much where you said, first of all, first place I'm really impressed with is 25 goals allowed this season is crazy. Like, I knew Conte was going to always fix the defense. Like, that's what he does. he oh That's his first thing he does every single time is he stops leaking goals. they No more...
00:46:59
Speaker
but like cheap goals are are allowed in Conte's system. But to have only 25, like they're six better than Inter, five better than Atalanta. Like that's very, very impressive, especially with, as I mentioned earlier, Bongiorno and Atalanta.
00:47:14
Speaker
And even really beyond that, when we say like Conte usually figures out the defense, it's usually because he's taking a much more defensive posture and he hasn't really done that. I mean, it's been... Back forward. Yes, they sit deep when they have leads, but not to like what you can't point to be like, oh, they just play super defensive because they don't.
00:47:31
Speaker
They just. Yeah. And figure it out. That that was my next point is that to what you said, they they do play different every game almost. And they and and I think where what you're seeing with Napoli and Conte is.
00:47:45
Speaker
how important your midfield three is. And if they can just speak to each other and play well together, you can dominate a game, whether you're sitting deep, whether you're in possession.
00:47:59
Speaker
And they have four guys that you can interchange individually and play differently. And they all play so well together in Scott McTominay, Labaka, Billy Gilmore, and Zombo. And you would think maybe like McTominay and Zombo are two similar players. They do the exact same stuff. It doesn't matter because they play amazing together. Billy Gilmore and Labaka, you can say the same thing, but it doesn't matter. Whatever the combination is, Napoli those three in the midfield will keep napoli in every single game i think that's very very underrated and it shows how important who you pick as your midfield three because these guys yes obviously vose has been screaming it for years that zombo is a beast i think we all know about labaka's class if you followed
00:48:50
Speaker
um, Syria for the last couple of years, he's been one, like they the guy who pulls their strings, but Billy Gilmore and Scott McTominay have been guys that were castaways at other clubs that Conte has identified. was like, I know that these guys will work with my team and work in my system.
00:49:06
Speaker
And that's what is so important when you're going to buy players. Sometimes it's not about buying the sexy name and the sexy player and the guy who's the most amount of money. It's, Who do I need that's going to work with the guys I already have in my house?
00:49:20
Speaker
And Conte is so good at identifying that and then getting the best out of them. And I think there that has been the key factor in Napoli's success this year is their midfield.
00:49:32
Speaker
Well, it's good. It's heating up. It's always been hot, but we're coming down to the wire here with these two teams. and And I think that it'll be extremely interesting to see with the ah the schedule difference that the two teams have. one One crazy thing that I did not know um and is now actually in play, if it's a tie at the end of the season, goal differential does not matter.
00:49:53
Speaker
I just know one in playoff. Oh, that's sick. I did not know that. And if it's a tie, it's a playoff. sort the i was head to hand And it's very much in play.
00:50:06
Speaker
Dude, i'll be that let's say that happens. Those two managers might get like aneurysms on the sideline. They might die on the sideline. yeah They feel about how insane that would be.
00:50:19
Speaker
Yeah, that would be crazy. That would be cool. In any case, we're moving on to a team that put a smile on my face for once.
00:50:30
Speaker
That has not happened in a while. Milan went to Udinese and absolutely slaughtered them. It was a 4-0 trouncing. Four different goal scorers, layout, Pavlovich, Teo, Reinders.
00:50:43
Speaker
all on the score sheet. Now, listen, I'm not going to tout this as a performance of the season. We're back. We're definitely not back.
00:50:53
Speaker
However, when the team plays well, I will wear the jersey and I will show my support again. Shout out. Well, she shout out Olivier Giroux. But listen, this was this was cool to watch.
00:51:06
Speaker
A bit of a changeup from Kongsten Cao. I thought he was checked out. i didn't even know he was still managing the team actively, but we did go 3-4-3 in this game. Three center backs, I think, changed up how our wingbacks were allowed to get forward without leaving our center backs alone.
00:51:22
Speaker
Tao and Alex Jimenez were allowed to get forward, which is their best attributes as outside backs, which I think totally changed the the way that this team played. It allowed Rinders and Fofana to really show the engines that they have. If you looked at their heat map, they were perfectly balanced.
00:51:38
Speaker
They were playing a perfect pivot. Fofana obviously staying a little bit further back than Rinders. Rinders getting forward as he does. um But then you have the front three where we started Jovic. Tammy comes in later on, but Leao and Pulisic played phenomenally.
00:51:54
Speaker
Unfortunately, it's one of those games, as Mott's pointed out earlier in the season, where it just saves Leao and Teo's careers here at Milan. It's the reason you you have to play them. They are electric when they're on. Leao with a great finish off of a pass from Fofan atop the box. Teo does his his normal streak up the sideline. Absolute rocket near post. No way for the goalie to save that.
00:52:16
Speaker
But I do just want to give flowers to this team for changing it up. I would like to see this formation going forward, although I'm not sure you change it for the Copa game. Just being that we've now played Inter five times this season, this will be the sixth fixture.
00:52:31
Speaker
And we've done rather well in the games that we play. And we had been playing that 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3. four twos three one four three three So I'm not saying that we change it for that, but it was refreshing to see a new formation and the guys going out there and giving it their all.
00:52:44
Speaker
We are still in ninth, but a 4-0 win always always feels good. Now, what I will say, i know it doesn't matter. i canno alone you no know i have None of this matters. yeah Nothing to
00:53:00
Speaker
with 4-0 makes Milan look a lot better than they played in this game. I mean... yeah I thought we played well. I thought they did not play all that well. I think Udinese is not very good, and they got this game.
00:53:12
Speaker
But at one nothing they you weren I don't think they were great at 1-0. And then the Pavlovich goal came off of Udinese should have had a corner kick. The ball went out bounds, the ref didn't call it. Went down the other other end of the field.
00:53:26
Speaker
They got a corner and scored on the corner. And then the last two goals came off of Udinese pouring people forward. um For me, they didn't create a lot of chances. They had 1-5 XG, I think it was, something like that. Yeah, 1-5 XG, Udinese at 0.8.
00:53:38
Speaker
point a I mean, I think that tells it more of the story. Again, I don't think Udinese is a great barometer. What I will say is I thought Tao, this got the most out of Tao, definitely. We saw a good Tao game first time in a long time.
00:53:49
Speaker
We saw a good layout game first time in a long time. I will, if they play you like this against Inter, and I think they're going to, they are going to get fucking destroyed. You cannot play two men phil the field against Inter Milan you are dead.
00:54:03
Speaker
um And again, I think this is a more flattering game. And it's the same thing about Milan for the last several, probably last month and a half. Even when they get results, I don't get a lot of positive takeaways.
00:54:16
Speaker
In this one, it was the same thing. I think every player had a nice match rating, and I think that the scoreline was good. But against an opposition that is playing for something and has better players, this is not going to fly.
00:54:30
Speaker
I liked the three, four, three. I thought it was electric. I thought it was great. I think, I mean, obviously i agree a hundred percent Tio, like this is his natural position. He needs to be a wing back cause his, and even on the other side, Jimenez, like their, their, their best attributes are attacking. So it gets the most out of them, but.
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i would like to see it again because it went so well. I do think that they could get played off the pitch with the two-man midfield against Inter Milan. But listen, they were getting played off the pitch against everybody besides Milan before. So we'll see how that goes. One big takeaway...
00:55:06
Speaker
that just for me in the stretch coming up, they got Atalanta next. They have the Copa Italia second leg. Mignon got subbed off the pitch again. Another injury. Don't know um how serious it is.
00:55:19
Speaker
That's a big, big loss for playing a team like Atalanta that we all know how many shots on goal they like and then second leg of the Copa if he's not healthy. And we all know Milan's defense allows shots on targets.
00:55:34
Speaker
But listen, Milan, obviously, they needed to change. They needed to fix something. Nothing was working. Concei Sao said, let's try a 3-4-3. It's going to get the but best out of Tio, the best out of our wingbacks that we have. We could still play Fafano and Rinders.
00:55:47
Speaker
at least Their number nine has obviously been super inconsistent all year. i understood why he went with Luka Jovic, because he deserved it. He's scoring two goals in the last two games. um But he...
00:55:59
Speaker
didn't perform very well. I would continue to go with Tammy in the future just because of the effort that you'll get. And obviously you got to play Sant or the other Jimenez.
00:56:11
Speaker
Yeah, Sant Jimenez every now and then because of the big money that you spent. But the problem with the three, four, three that I could see happening is unbalanced, right? Reinders likes to get forward. Teo likes to get forward.
00:56:25
Speaker
The Jimenez likes to get forward. Pulisic, he has a work rate to get back, but we know Liao does not. So you need to have, even just put Tammy in there for the work rate alone and and getting back. But that's, that's my one concern is there's not a lot of balance on this lineup and this specific formation that he ran out.
00:56:49
Speaker
That's the whole point of the three the three back. I mean, you have three guys that you know are not getting forward, and Fofana had held his position quite well, I think, through the whole game. So that's that's exactly why you play the three back, to let Teo roam up, to let Alex Jimenez roam up. You're not wrong, but i still there's still you're still and four guys back. then My problem is that...
00:57:11
Speaker
umnna guys see The same areas on the field are still the areas that teams are going to be trying to exploit. The difference is that now you have less guys to recover, kind of. So, yes, you have a three.
00:57:23
Speaker
But picture like picture with what's what's been happening all year. Teams have been attacking the right side of Milan's defense, so the opposition's left side of the field. At least Alex Jimenez was playing in like a traditional right-back spot. Now...
00:57:36
Speaker
If you play a ball into that channel, Tomori has to run out there and be one, be one. And on the other side, it's Pavlovich running out there to be one, be one in both of them are not in. I wouldn't call them high IQ soccer players.
00:57:48
Speaker
They're more reliant on their physical traits. And I could see that getting pulled apart. like Guys, that that back three very quickly becoming back two, Fofana running back. Reinders was too high up the field.
00:58:02
Speaker
So now it's your your back three, Pavlovich has been pulled out, or Tamori has been pulled out. And now it's your two guys and Fofana chasing back. And that... No discipline. Make it very, it could make it worse even because. Yeah.
00:58:16
Speaker
That's what I was going to say is the the three that is the back, right? Like agreed a hundred percent with Vos, the IQ of Pavlovich and Tamori, and then just the quality of Gabby in the middle can.
00:58:27
Speaker
It's like, I understand you have the three back, but is it really going to be a structured three back at all times? And when you are playing a three, four, two, one or three, four, three, the luxury of it is that when you're out of possession, it is five back.
00:58:42
Speaker
And even with like, is it actually ever going to be a five back? Cause we know what TO is. Um, so that's, I liked it though. I want to see him. I'd run it out again against Atalanta and just fight fire with fire and have that goal, have that game six to six. the the last My last piece that I don't like about the back three is you're forcing your center backs to handle the ball a lot more. And usually that's your, your outside too. And Baltimore and Pavlovich are abysmal on ball.
00:59:11
Speaker
But we've been playing Pavlovich and Tamori as a back two, just read the ball the same way. so I know, but you're taking out another creative player to add another defender. The change here is that your Tao and Alex Jimenez are going to play the exact same way they've been playing a back four, but you just added another center back.
00:59:26
Speaker
That's my point. Whether they're playing back four or back three, Teo and Jimenez are going to get up. So why don't you just add a center back? Fofano's going to be there to hold a little bit of that in midfield.
00:59:36
Speaker
I think i i think that this is a better setup than the 4-3-3, just given the fact that we have these guys. And I'm not saying play Kyle Walker as right wing back. If you have Kyle Walker out there, yeah, 4-3-3 is fine.
00:59:47
Speaker
But having knowing what you have in Teo and Jimenez and trying to get the best out of them, 3-4-3 makes sense. and any case I kind of forgot Kyle Walker was on the team. He'd be a good right center back.
00:59:57
Speaker
That I agree with. Right. I'm fine with that. But in any case, I do want to just point out one thing I found interesting when I was looking at the table this week. It's been month and a half or so since Milan played their makeup game against Bologna.
01:00:12
Speaker
Bologna are in fifth. yeah They are yeah six points ahead of Milan at this stage in the game. They played us off the park 2-0 in that make-up game.
01:00:25
Speaker
We have the same goal differential, same goals for, and same goals against. And it's just a completely different tale of two cities here. Having the Milan season that we're having versus the Bologna season that Italiano has structured.
01:00:40
Speaker
I think it's just a crazy juxtaposition and that I'm really sad that I'm on the wrong side of it. But you're not from that game. You're saying overall, right? Overall, overall. I'm just saying. i made main we look a other well no Way, way different from that game. But I'm just saying that it's it's crazy that you can have such similar stats and have such different seasons underneath you.
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, but once again, though, and this goes back to what we talked about last episode, Milan, you if you're a Milan, you cannot have 51. I think even if you had 57 points, if you have the same exact season as Bologna, you're still looking at it like we're not having that good of a season.
01:01:16
Speaker
That's the luxury of a team like Bologna that have just found this newfound success in. And they they can have the season and it's an incredible season for them because their standards are usually let's not get relegated, right? So is it a great by Italiano where what he's doing? Yes, but they have 12 ties in the league. Like if you have 12 ties as Milan or even as Juventus, that's still not looked at as a good season for either of those two teams. It's only looked at as good season for Bologna because of their history.
01:01:47
Speaker
So that's kind of my take there. I'd still rather fifth. Yeah, mean, i I think it's a very – I'm happy you brought this sub one because it's it's really interesting now because I think a little bit of our mindset needs to start to shift now because i think it's it's really hard for us to make the – kind of get over the hump of looking at the Serie A. It's like Juventus, Inter.
01:02:06
Speaker
Milan. And then it's like kind of everybody else doesn't deserve to be in there. And that's not the case anywhere. Atalanta is perennial champions league team. Bologna look like they're going to be that Roma are now that Fiorentina look like they're going to be that Torino look like they're going to get a new ownership.
01:02:24
Speaker
They've been really good. Torino's still the 10th level. Napoli's in it. They're always in the top. You go even further down, then Cuomo's on the come up now. Cuomo's the come up. You're adding potentially 10 teams that can realistically in any given year get in that top four now.
01:02:41
Speaker
And it's going to be hard. And you look at Bologna. Bologna is a great like example to compare directly to Milan. I think Bologna's roster is way better than Milan's at this point. They have less flashy names, but their players are better.
01:02:55
Speaker
What else do they do in the summer? They hired a way better coach than Milan did. And we know that. It just comes down to you have to know the league and you have to run your club efficiently or you are going to be left behind.
01:03:09
Speaker
Right. And that's but that's why I brought up Palladino last week. It's just, a you know, there's there's a point in time here that Fiorentina finishing eighth isn't good enough anymore. I mean, they should bring back Pioli. Honestly, if he doesn't sign, that is the easiest thing they can do.
01:03:22
Speaker
Well, with that being said, we are looking to to hire a new sporting director, a what How did you say his name last week? Paratici? Paratici. Paratici. Paratici. Which is correct.
01:03:35
Speaker
Paratici is no longer going to be hired as a sporting director. there was a fall There was a fallout in legalese. You don't want him. You don't want him. In any case, Iguodotare is now the frontrunner. And with that, his headline big hire for manager is Matz's favorite Allegri.
01:03:56
Speaker
I mean... I will cry. These Italian teams and guys that are running these teams... It's so incestual....are old and they cannot, like, learn from other people's mistakes and they just keep giving players chances after chances. And listen, I'll even take it a step to say, like, it's kind of... I think Pioli's good.
01:04:18
Speaker
I think he'll do well at Roma. It's kind of the same thing there. It's like, yo... Milan just moved on from it's like the same cycle. Juventus is now linked to Conte again. They in one thing that has to play a factor, and must be said, is it's it's just du it comes down to money. Like the Serie A team just straight up can't afford teams like or play or managers like the Premier League or Bayern or the Madrid can get.
01:04:42
Speaker
and and can pay them. So if guys want to get paid high, which all guys do, they're not going to come. And so you you you're you're playing in a pool that are of guys that are just okay with taking this amount of money.
01:04:55
Speaker
And so that's why it's just a carousel of the same names. Well, i i mean, I just, I don't understand it. I mean, the name that comes to mind for me is DeZerby. And I do think that he deserves a chance to come back to Syria. He knows the league. He did extremely well at Sass. He leaves Sass. Sass gets relegated. Money. What did just say?
01:05:11
Speaker
He's getting a bag. He left. DeZerby's not getting a bag. He went to Marseille. Yeah, and he got a bag there. And he a bag at Brighton. he was looking to step down.
01:05:22
Speaker
He's leaving Marseille. He is. i think I'm saying ah he's not – Zerbe's not getting a bag anywhere these days. so But I think that he's still got potential if he comes back to a league that he's familiar with. He's Italian.
01:05:33
Speaker
If you look back at the managers that have won the Serie A, Never has there been a manager, except for maybe one, that's been non-Italian winning the Scudetta. De Zerbi is the highest paid manager. Can factor that? Can we factor that? That is true.
01:05:46
Speaker
didn't know that. I did not know that. De Zerbi is the second highest paid manager in League One on 550 euros a week. Or a month. That's nothing. 6.6 million. I can pay him.
01:05:58
Speaker
I'll pay him. What, you think we're going to hire Allegri for less than that? I would love to see what Allegri's contract is. This is why it's interesting, Lewis, because DeZerby is theoretically a good manager.
01:06:14
Speaker
In theory. No, no, no, no. I have something backing this up. However, they do not have the personnel to play DeZerby ball because nobody on the team, apart from Reinders, has the technical ability to actually execute that or the discipline.
01:06:31
Speaker
So then you're stuck and have to replace the entire team.
01:06:35
Speaker
We're going to because we're going sell. I don't know if they're going I don't know. I think but i think if Deserby can play with the Brighton squad last year and get those guys to play his ball, like you can play it. The problem with Deserby is that he you score goals. He leaks goals a lot. And but Milan's issue right now is they leak goals.
01:06:53
Speaker
You need someone to solidify the defense. I think, listen, i likely like we could yeah I don't want to see any big dog in Sonny Marcha here, right? We're not going to. That's why I think the Allegri one, I understand why they're leaning towards that. It's like, you know what you're going to get.
01:07:08
Speaker
And they've just been through this special cycle of this year of we don't know what we're going to get every day. I actually think one that is doable and would be kind of purely upgrade. And it looks like he's going to be available. And I think he would actually do it as Ancelotti.
01:07:24
Speaker
Like he might, he would come back to Milan, I think. He just said the other day he's not leaving. No, he might leave. No, Madrid, I don't think Madrid want to keep him.
01:07:35
Speaker
I don't think it's going to be up to him. He's also linked to the Brazil, the international Brazil coach. I think it's just as attractive. I think for him, it's and do I want to take on the risk because it's a terrible job right now. It is a horrible job to take over.
01:07:50
Speaker
It's not fun. That's for damn sure. But I don't know. we'll see I really don't want Allegri. think it's going to be really boring. It needs to be worse than watching ball at the end of the cycle there. That'll be way worse. I watched AC Milan play, and I watched Juventus play.
01:08:08
Speaker
i mean i said it in the one of the first podcasts we've ever did. at least Pioli allows Teo to invert as a left back. Allegri doesn't even have that as a tactic. there's no There's not even inverting wing backs. It's just on the pitch, defend, and hopefully you guys counterattack.
01:08:26
Speaker
Dude, I would even go Vinoli over Allegri. I think Vinoli's a spicier version. Vinoli could be good. It would be good. But we'll see. Listen, we got more games to talk about.
01:08:37
Speaker
We're getting to the length of this pod here. But Bologna did go to Atalanta, and Atalanta got the job done. It wasn't pretty. I don't think it was the game that they wanted there. But 2-0 win is huge for them. They stay on track. They're still in third.
01:08:51
Speaker
They're two points clear. Juventus in fourth. Ritteghi gets back in the score sheet. I think he's been a little quiet the last couple of games, but still leading the league with 23 goals. Bologna, a little bit of a hiccup here going into a big matchup next weekend.
01:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, definitely hit go for Bologna. They were really hard end to the year, but I still feel good about them. For Atalanta, I kind of just hate everything that's going on there. It's such bad vibes.
01:09:16
Speaker
And they're just kind of in free fall mode. This was kind of a blip in time where they did something right. But, like, every match week, there's a new headline. And every game, they play worse. And it just...
01:09:29
Speaker
Regardless of what happens this year, they're fucked next year. That's my takeaway. They're going lose the entire team. They're going to lose Gasparini. I don't know. They could fall to a below 10th team next year. Yeah, I mean, listen, if Gasparini has been the face of this project the last however many years, and we've said it before, he turns water into wine.
01:09:50
Speaker
Who knows what any of these players will look like under a different manager? Right. Mata has been linked to him since Gasparini has been linked away. But Gasparini has gotten the most out of all of these players.
01:10:02
Speaker
We say it time and time again. We see what happens when players leave Atalanta and when players join Atalanta. And it's all down to Gasparini. So whether or not they keep their players...
01:10:14
Speaker
If they lose Gasparini, I could see all these players looking ah lot different than what they did this year. But it'll be tough to keep all these players as well with how good they're playing and with all the turmoil.
01:10:24
Speaker
But... With all the torent turmoil, you would think that Bologna would have would have been able to get this job done. And it was very, very slow for Bologna. But still not your typical Atalanta game.
01:10:35
Speaker
Only having four total shots and two on target. They're normally peppering. But that obviously comes down to Italiano having the ball 60% possession.
01:10:46
Speaker
Atalanta not being able to hold on to it. um But this was big for Atalanta because three straight losses in the league. They hadn't, besides the Juventus game, ah was... Three losses and a draw.
01:10:56
Speaker
So they needed this win as a big opponent. keep Keeping them in third place. They have a big game against Milan next week. That's going to be dogfight. And depending on what that result, Juventus could potentially leapfrog them.
01:11:10
Speaker
And Atalanta can continue to skyfall. So this was a huge, huge win for them. Yeah, i'm ah I'm happy. I mean, I'm happy to see the form that Atalanta's in going into the game against Milan next week, especially being at the San Siro, especially having Calcio culture in person. I think they're gonna feel the heat from us.
01:11:27
Speaker
um But with that being said, don't know. Atalanta's been out of the Scudese race for a couple weeks now. this is and We talk about this a lot. The results that they've been getting, the form that they're in in this and this part of the season is not the form of a Scudetto winning team.
01:11:42
Speaker
I want them to fall to seventh so we don't have to suffer through them in Europe next year. That's where I'm at with Atlanta. it is it is It is a $2 race here, but we'll see. i was here That was your second-case team to start season. It is this whole...
01:11:56
Speaker
The Lookman thing and how that's dragged out has ruined the club. And Gasparini, how he's handled it, has ruined the club as well. That's Gasparini's MO. We talk about players playing well, and that's why it's going to hard to keep on, hold on to them.
01:12:10
Speaker
But now even beyond that, players went there to play for Gasparini. So... Elanova, Somersage, yeah. Brechinini, like, Rogeri. Like, you are literally at the point where you might lose everybody.
01:12:27
Speaker
Yeah. It's terrible. We're kicking it to Turin though. Kicking it to Turin. This game may be incredibly upset. I had my own individual mini Colby on Saturday.
01:12:38
Speaker
This was my last leg. Mots, why couldn't Juve just close out the game to na they i had They had the spread. You could argue Juve got lucky they finished it Third game under Tudor.
01:12:54
Speaker
What you can see with Tudor is intensity. High pressure. We want the ball. We want to go score first half at all times. We're on the ball. We're pressing. We want it. We want to score. Let's go, go, go, go. go Then where what Tudor needs to improve on is second half adjustments and just second half intensity. We've now been dominated in two second halves in a row ah going back to the Roma game.
01:13:20
Speaker
We got extremely lucky that it was two to one. De Gregorio made an unbelievable save to save the game. Juventus only had.10xg in the second half. They did have a lot of the ball, but that's not what you want to see. Go kill the game. like Just like you said, Logan, go get a third, go get a fourth, and then have the ball.
01:13:41
Speaker
With that said, the first half is something to build on. The build-up play that we that I saw on the Yielders goal was incredible. I said it earlier in the year under Mata.
01:13:54
Speaker
I've never seen a Juventus or even under Allegri. I haven't seen a Juventus play a give-and-go ever in my life. Amazing give and go by Taram and Yildiz to then give to Doosan, who actually figured out how to touch the ball and lay it off to somebody.
01:14:08
Speaker
And Yildiz slotted it away, just passed Moisey Keane for the record for the most goals as a teenager. You got to just get him on the pitch. He's electric. Also, Coop Miners building some momentum, getting a goal.
01:14:21
Speaker
Great finish by him as well. He played a pretty solid game. Doosan with two assists. didn' know He still missed a wide-open goal opportunity, kicked it over the net. i don't know how he didn't put it on target.
01:14:32
Speaker
So there's still a lot to to figure out for Doosan, but at least he got two assists and was into in the build-up play. And Juventus did have 18 total shots, which is great. Yeah, Falcone went really good.
01:14:45
Speaker
Yeah. Lecce, really. Yes. um So, lot to build on. lot to build on. Tudor needs to get better at the substitutes. Reading the game, change it earlier in second half. Need intensity.
01:14:56
Speaker
Last thing I'll say, because trying to keep it short. Marcus, or Kefron Taram. Oh my goodness. He is such a good player. Great buy for 20 mil. I don't know how.
01:15:08
Speaker
I mean, obviously, his last year in his contract was a great bargain buy. He needs to be on the pitch every single game for 90 minutes. He is so good at driving the ball forward, breaking a play, winning the ball back, and then he can create. He has five assists on the season as well.
01:15:26
Speaker
Him and Yieldis, kind of a little ah reminiscence of ah Paul Pogba slash Paolo Dybala thing going on there. So very, very good performance from him. And then Locatelli as well.
01:15:37
Speaker
I know I've been saying maybe drop him and play Coop Miners in that spot. Locatelli's been... pulling the strings. He has the most forward passes in the Serie A. He's been playing very, very well as well.
01:15:49
Speaker
And shouts to Renato Vega as well. I don't know what the plans are for the summer, but I don't know how Juve is and putting that at the top of our list. Yeah. they So make that permanent. Every day there's new reports. Juve aren't going to buy them. Juve are going to buy them. Juve aren't going to buy them.
01:16:02
Speaker
I think you have to, because one thing I will say that Vo said about about Milan, and I see it in Juve, when we play the three back with Lloyd Kelly and Kalulu, they are not progressive passers at all. Gatti, same thing.
01:16:17
Speaker
Bremer, also not the biggest progressive passer. vernanto Having Renato Vega there, he is a progressive passer. He looks to break lines with his passing. It's such a weapon and a key to Juventus' success.
01:16:32
Speaker
Since we've had him, you have to go to Chelsea and buy him. He has to be number two on the list because you got to figure out what you're doing with striker. Doosan's probably going to leave and we need a striker.
01:16:44
Speaker
But Renato Vega has been a Awesome. Yeah. Last question, just like two quick, two second answer. Uh, Why is Nico Gonzalez playing when Cambiasso, Tim Weah, Contra Sal, and maybe even Southerner?
01:16:56
Speaker
said Well, Contra Sal is not a wingback, so you can't play in the Nico Gonzalez spot. Weah has stayed very well. Is Nico Gonzalez a wingback? I'm not sure. Nico Gonzalez, I think this is his best position because he cannot dribble past the cone, and he does give a lot of effort.
01:17:09
Speaker
To be honest with you, Weah should have but you get some burn. I know Weah was subbed onto this game, but I just think Managers like Nico's work rate at the end of the day because he he will have just run all over the pitch.
01:17:22
Speaker
um And I kind of like his him in the wingback role because of that. But Cambioso, I think, is also still coming back from an injury as well. But yeah, Konsei Sao needs to play in one of the spots above the strikers because not the wingback. I would see what Weah or Kambia, I would get them in pretty soon.
01:17:40
Speaker
But that's that's just my opinion. Nico Gonzalez has played well under Tudor in the new spot as well. But one more thing I will say is Douglas Luiz is very slowly but low-key, very fastly getting just phased out of this team.
01:17:55
Speaker
He's played only 22 games this season. He has zero goals, zero assists. I don't know where he fits in because Locatelli has played so well. And Kefron Taram has been the player of the season for Juventus. So you can't take either of those two out. And I don't know if he can necessarily play behind the striker in the coupe minors, yield his role.
01:18:13
Speaker
Good after. No, they Rourke's taking some of them. right, guys, let's finish out match day 32, match week 32. We're going to the Little Lads by the Lake. They squeak one out against Torino at home. 1-0, come a lucked out a bit here.
01:18:28
Speaker
Torino actually scored, but the ye old Julian Alvarez comes back to bite Torino. It was a double hit on the corner. Gold disallowed. Chek Fabregas absolutely fired up after the game. He was looking to get in everyone's face from Torino.
01:18:40
Speaker
This is on the back of... Czech coming out and denying the Roma job and the Milan job. He wants to stay at Como. He wants to bring this product to fruition. Parma goes to Fiorentina. They sweep out a nil-nil draw.
01:18:53
Speaker
The Fiorentina fizzle is in full effect. Two draws in the last two weeks. Obviously Milan 2-2. Parma here nil-nil. Fiorentina need to shape up if they want to get into that conference league spot. Again, kings of the conference league.
01:19:07
Speaker
ah draw in Two big draws for Parma. Two big draws for Parma at the bottom of the table. Speaking at bottom of the table, Monza goes to Venezia. Venezia at home is the hardest place to play in Serie Venezia comes away with a 1-0 win.
01:19:20
Speaker
I've been saying it. Venezia is going to stay up. Empoli in 19th. Lecce only two points ahead of Venezia. And Lecce do not have an easy schedule going forward.
01:19:32
Speaker
Every single game they play is a hard game because they're absolute dog shit. I will see Venezia in Serie next year. Venezia and Parma. Parma, first of all, last five games, all draws. Five points, big time. Venezia in their last five games, draw, draw, one loss, draw, win.
01:19:52
Speaker
So they got when six points in their last five. that's Those two teams making a push to stay in the Serie A, you love to see it. Listen, I said it a couple weeks ago. You guys looked at me like I had nine eyes on my face, but every single point matters at the bottom of the table, and it's coming. It's looking to play out that way.
01:20:10
Speaker
Monza's done. Empoli looking like dog shit. Lecce really, really bad. Venezia squeaking out a win. They're the only team to win the last five weeks in the bottom five teams. They're on the up and up.
01:20:21
Speaker
Watch out. Drake is on the comeback. And last but not least, continuing with this line of draws, Genoa goes to Verona and a rock fight, nil, nil.
01:20:33
Speaker
Listen, guys, we've got some big midweek games coming up. Champions League, we've talked about it a bit here. Bayern is going to the San Siro. Inter is up 2-1 on aggregate. I think that Inter pulls that one out.
01:20:44
Speaker
Bayern just doesn't have it in them. They're not the strongest team. They're not the strongest squad that they've had in the past couple of years. Inter is pretty in form right now and they're well-rested after the management this past weekend. Inter's built to win this game.
01:20:57
Speaker
This is maybe the worst game for a team to play. You have to go to the Sun-Zero down a goal against Inter. That is terrible. You're fucked. That sucks. Yeah.
01:21:09
Speaker
That sucks, which is great that Milan is only tied going into the San Siro against Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia. We go to the Europa League. Lazio looking bad.
01:21:20
Speaker
Kind of hanging on by their last string there. They went to Bodo Glimt. They were playing six inches of pure powdery snow. They lost 2-0. Bodo Glimt. Listen, guys, in Eastern European teams at home, when it's snowing, you never take Lazio. I took Lazio. That's why they lost.
01:21:37
Speaker
But in any case... We do go to the Kings, the Conference League. Fiorentina up 2-1 on aggregate, coming back to Florence against Celgene, however we said it last week.
01:21:49
Speaker
ah they Again, up 2-1. I would like to see them finish that out and find Chelsea in the finals of the Conference League. So now we look ahead. I'll rattle them off. Maybe you ah chime in. Favorite game of the week. My favorite game of the week. But Match Day 33, and I think it's very clear what our favorite game of the week is.
01:22:06
Speaker
But we will be in person for Match Week 33. The little lads are going to Lecce. They should squeak out a win there. Napoli is going up the road from us at Monza.
01:22:19
Speaker
Marona's traveling down to the capital playing Roma. Roma at home. Venezia is going to get three points out of the bottom of the table. That's a massive game. Venezia, I believe, this is one of the biggest games of the season.
01:22:35
Speaker
That's 18th place and 19th place. These are the games that I live for in Serie A. These are Voz's favorite games. Again, Vinets is going to Empoli. We're looking to see Vinets come out with another three points, get a winning streak going.
01:22:49
Speaker
Inter is going to Bologna, catching Bologna at a weird time. We'll see how Inter looks after they play home against Bayern this week, midweek. We do have Atalanta at the San Siro at Milan.
01:23:01
Speaker
The boys from Coucho Culture will be there. Paisans, check on all our socials. We will be live. Udinese is going to Reno. Fiorentina is traveling to the island. Sardinia playing Cagliari.
01:23:15
Speaker
Lazio is going to Salamis at Genoa. Not an easy game. And another game that we will be at. Juventus is taking the road down to Parma with the Coucho Culture lads.
01:23:30
Speaker
We will be there. See you there on Monday. What a match week to be present for. Then we have the Coppa Italia, which we will also be at.
01:23:40
Speaker
The Milan Derby semifinal, winner take all. If it has to go to PKs, it will be. The Calichiro boys will be in attendance. I believe Inter is technically home for that game. Inter is technically home. And then a Bologna plays Empoli.
01:23:57
Speaker
Unfortunately not Juventus because they lost to Empoli's C team. Empoli or Bologna should handle that pretty. They're up 4-0 in aggregate, aren't they? yeah So that that's for the Coppa Italia, which excited to be at the Milan Derby.
01:24:11
Speaker
And then lastly, we have the Colpi. want to press the bye? Colpi di luna. Colpi. A very special Colpi di luna. Colpi. Obviously, the Colpi last week didn't do that well. Hand up. My leg didn't hit. I believe Logue's leg didn't hit either. Vos's did. Still in the lead, though. Still in the lead.
01:24:27
Speaker
Yeah, Vos is still in the lead. All of us are at 50%, though. So we started really slow and really poorly, but have just totally been climbing and climbing. And if you were taking it all season, all of you guys are making money on all of our picks.
01:24:40
Speaker
Uh, but this week we have an extra special one because obviously we're going to be at the game. So I decided to pick two legs. So we got some extra juice on this Colby.
01:24:51
Speaker
It's juicy. Obviously, I'm picking the two legs that are going to be the Juventus Parma game because we'll be at that game. I'm taking the over two and a half goals for minus 105 and then Juve money line minus 140. So extra juice, extra Juve. Take them separate. Take them together.
01:25:11
Speaker
Take it all. Colby, Colby, Colby. That's right, the new slogan. the copy Take it all. haveb Take them all. Kobe, Kobe, Kobe. All right, I'll do mine.
01:25:23
Speaker
I've got Rategi anytime they'll score. I like it. He was kind of quiet for a few months. Not months. That was harsh. He's been a little bit quiet. um He got a goal this past weekend. I think he's going to continue to roll that form.
01:25:35
Speaker
Milan suck at defense, so there's going be a lot of goals. Milan suck at defense. um and That comes in at plus 140. And to round it all out, I'm also going anytime goal scorer. My boy, Captain America, in the same game, plus 250 anytime goal scorer. We're looking for goals at the San Siro on Saturday.
01:25:55
Speaker
Listen, guys, you know the rules. Mons just said it. Take them separate, take them all, but you bet the Colby. You bet 100 bones on this one. It's a juicy one.
01:26:06
Speaker
If you had to pay taxes, this one's going to get you back to even. We are paying out plus 2,082. to You bet 100 bucks, you get 2,182 bones back. Send this Send over to Sandra Tenali. This is good of so sort sendra tannali it's a girl Also, if you're feeling frisky, if you're feeling frisky, feel free to add little bonus leg.
01:26:29
Speaker
Over two and a half in the Milan-Atlantic. It comes in at minus 160. So a lot of lot of good good odds there. But feel free to throw that in sprinkle it. If you're feeling frisky, that's probably going to bring it in plus 2,500
01:26:45
Speaker
Listen, we're chasing here, but we're going to be there. It's going to be electric. Listen, paisans, you know where to find us. You know where to follow us. It is imperative that you check in over the next two weeks. We're have a ton of content coming at you live for you.
01:26:58
Speaker
You know where to find us. X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. And when we do publish the episodes that we will inevitably do over the week, you can find us on Spotify and Apple Pods.
01:27:13
Speaker
Paisans, it was a great episode. We loved doing this for you. We are going to love being there live to bring you the content that you deserve next week. So with that, Mats, take us away.
01:27:25
Speaker
Do not be Gakuz in Forza Calcio Culture.
01:28:06
Speaker
Bye.